The 2019 Florida Statutes

(1) It is the intent of the Legislature that the executive branch of government, in consultation with the legislative fiscal committees, specifically design and implement the Florida Financial Management Information System to be the primary means by which state government managers acquire and disseminate the information needed to plan and account for the delivery of services to the citizens in a timely, efficient, and effective manner.

(2) The Florida Financial Management Information System shall be a unified information system providing fiscal, management, and accounting support for state decisionmakers. It shall provide a means of coordinating fiscal management information and information that supports state planning, policy development, management, evaluation, and performance monitoring. The Florida Financial Management Information System shall be the primary information resource that provides accountability for public funds, resources, and activities.

(3) The Financial Management Information Board shall provide the overall framework within which the Florida Financial Management Information System will operate. The board, through the Florida Financial Management Information System Coordinating Council, shall adopt policies and procedures to:

(a) Strengthen and standardize the fiscal management and accounting practices of the state;

(b) Improve internal financial controls;

(c) Simplify the preparation of objective, accurate, and timely management and fiscal reports; and

(d) Provide the information needed in the development, management, and evaluation of public policy and programs.

(4) The council shall provide ongoing counsel to the board and act to resolve problems among or between the functional owner subsystems. The board, through the coordinating council, shall direct and manage the development, implementation, and operation of the information subsystems that together are the Florida Financial Management Information System. The coordinating council shall approve the information subsystems’ designs prior to the development, implementation, and operation of the subsystems and shall approve subsequent proposed design modifications to the information subsystems subject to the guidelines issued by the council. The coordinating council shall ensure that the information subsystems’ operations support the exchange of unified and coordinated data between information subsystems. The coordinating council shall establish the common data codes for financial management, and it shall require and ensure the use of common data codes by the information subsystems that together constitute the Florida Financial Management Information System. The Chief Financial Officer shall adopt a chart of accounts consistent with the common financial management data codes established by the coordinating council. The board, through the coordinating council, shall establish the financial management policies and procedures for the executive branch of state government. The coordinating council shall notify in writing the chairs of the legislative fiscal committees and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court regarding the adoption of, or modification to, a proposed financial management policy or procedure. The notice shall solicit comments from the chairs of the legislative fiscal committees and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at least 14 consecutive days before the final action by the coordinating council.

(5) The Florida Financial Management Information System and its functional owner information subsystems shall be compatible with the legislative appropriations system, and they shall be designed to support the legislative oversight function. The Florida Financial Management Information System and its functional owner information subsystems shall be unified with the legislative information systems that support the legislative appropriations and legislative oversight functions. The Florida Financial Management Information System and its functional owner information subsystems shall exchange information with the legislative information systems that support the legislative appropriations and legislative oversight functions without conversion or modification. Any information maintained by the Florida Financial Management Information System and its functional owner information subsystems shall be available, upon request, to the information systems of the legislative branch.

(6) The Florida Financial Management Information System and its functional owner information subsystems shall be designed to incorporate the flexibility needed to respond to the dynamic demands of state government in a cost-conscious manner. The Florida Financial Management Information System shall include applications that will support an information retrieval system that will allow the user to ask general questions and receive accurate answers that include assessments concerning the qualifications of the data.

(7) The Florida Financial Management Information System and each of its functional owner information subsystems shall strive to employ a common set of operations that make the system accessible to agency program managers and statewide decisionmakers. Data shall be easily transferred from the functional owner information subsystems to Florida Financial Management Information System applications and also among the functional owner information subsystems. The functional owner information subsystems shall identify shared data-gathering needs in order to minimize the duplications of source-entry input. The coordinating council shall ensure that all organizations within the executive branch of state government have access to and use the Florida Financial Management Information System for the collection, processing, and reporting of financial management data required for the efficient and effective operation of state government.

(8) The Florida Financial Management Information System, through its functional owner subsystems, shall include a data-gathering and data-distribution facility that will support a management and decisionmaking information system that collects and stores agency and statewide financial, administrative, planning, and program information to assist agency program managers and statewide decisionmakers in carrying out their responsibilities.